[Tolo News] Some provincial candidates of parliamentary election voiced concern about increasing insecurity in Ghazni, a southern Afghan province
Candidates in Ghazni province said they have been threatened by insurgents in their campaigns and security forces have not acted enough to stabilise the province.
Security forces should boost security level; otherwise we will not be able to carry our campaigns effectively, said candidates.
After a provincial parliamentary candidate, Najibullah Gulistani, was killed in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, concern has grown among the candidates.
"Security officials should be accountable to people and parliamentary candidates," said a parliamentary candidate, Abdul Hakim Dalil.
Acknowledging security threats in the province, the provincial police chief said that in cooperation with other security organisations he will take serious measures to secure campaigns and upcoming parliamentary election.
"They can continue their campaigns, when they go to the districts, they should go together, and we are ready to provide security for them," said Ghazni Police Chief, Kheyal Baz Sherzai.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Afghan army recruitment has met a target of 134,000 troops two months ahead of schedule, officials said Wednesday, despite a worsening Taliban-led insurgency around the country.
The army, backed by billions of dollars from the United States, is aiming to number 171,000 troops by late next year, but an October deadline for 134,000 has already been met, said defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
"We are two months ahead of schedule," Azimi told AFP.
Afghanistan, with the help of its Western backers, is trying to rebuild its army and police in a bid to take responsibility for security from US-led Nato forces by 2014.
The Taliban, toppled in a 2001 US-led invasion, still control large swathes of the south and have put up stiff resistance to a surge deploying 150,000 foreign troops as part of a counter-insurgency strategy.
The national police currently numbers 100,000 with an eventual aim of 134,000 personnel.
The commander of the US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan hailed the army's growth, saying that the rebuilding of Afghan security forces was the "central element" in the coalition's efforts to stabilise the country.
"It is truly remarkable that we are able to congratulate the defence ministry today for achieving their strength goal for October two months ahead of schedule," US General David Petraeus said in a statement.
On Tuesday, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said all international and domestic private security firms would be dissolved, partly in a bid to transfer their capacity to the Afghan police and army.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan's former north-south foes began much-delayed talks this week on how to divide wealth and power, with time running out five months before a referendum on independence for the south.
The two sides need to resolve sensitive issues including demarcating the border, defining citizenship and sharing oil and Nile waters in the case of either result in the Jan. 9, 2011 referendum -- secession or unity. The plebiscite culminates a 2005 peace deal which ended Africa's longest civil war.
"For a referendum to decide whether to keep a country united or to develop a new state, post-referendum issues are very crucial," said Ibrahim Ghandour, a senior official in the north's ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
"Keeping (these issues) on the table after the referendum means that people are looking for trouble," he said.
Four committees began late on Monday to discuss technical issues like which international treaties an independent south Sudan will join and what currency to use.
The committees are not expected to resolve major issues such as oil and Nile water sharing and the border, which are likely to be political decisions traded off at a higher level.
"Action at the political level to resolve these outstanding questions without further delay...is clearly now of the utmost importance," said Derek Plumbly, head of the international commission tasked with monitoring the deal's implementation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
There appears to have been a shift in the profile of defectors fleeing North Korea since a botched currency reform late last year. Before the reform, most of the defectors were so poor that they did not care whether they would be killed if they were caught fleeing the North.
But since the currency reform, more middle-class North Koreans have been fleeing the North, a South Korean security official speculated.
A North Korean source on Tuesday said the currency reform alienated many people from the regime, and the spread of South Korean pop culture through videos and CDs clandestinely circulated in the North has also encouraged some middle and higher-class North Koreans to flee. In recent days, many people who lost their savings due to the currency reform have reportedly decided to flee.
A South Korean government official said, "Due to tight surveillance, those who want to flee must bribe brokers or North Korean border guards with a lot of money. The fact that these people have enough money to flee means that they are of the middle or higher class or have relatives in South Korea."
Reports say the number of upper-class North Korean defectors, like children of senior officials, has risen. Their arrival in South Korea has not been publicized here, and no statistics are available because they do not need to attend classes at Hanawon, a center for helping defectors adapt to a new life in the South, as ordinary defectors do.
Since early this year, the North has been bent on rounding up defectors, because it is apparently worried about the middle-class exodus. The North's two public security agencies, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Security Department, issued their first-ever joint statement in February calling the defectors "scumbags."
In March, a spokesman for the North's National Reconciliation Council issued a statement pointing out South Korean civic groups behind North Korean defectors and said they will be "primary targets of punishment." Since June, the regime has been sending agents to China and other countries to round up defectors.
Prof. Lee Jo-won of Chunggng University said, "It must be hard for the North Korean regime to see society's backbone break away at a time when the power succession is looming."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
What the hell could they mean by North Korean members of a "middle class"? The term is nonsensical outside of a functioning civil society or proper economic market. Are we talking low-level party spear-chuckers, black-market merchants? Or are we talking non-party professionals? Does such a beast even exist in North Korea? Or are these just people who aren't party but can't be classified as proles or peasants - anything from a mechanic to a party apparatchik?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/12/2010 11:26 Comments ||
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SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has apparently registered an account with the iconic U.S. video-sharing site YouTube, uploading clips that praise the isolated regime and defend itself against accusations that it attacked a South Korean warship.
At least 10 clips were found Tuesday under the name of uriminzokkiri, which represents the North's Web site. The name in Korean means "on our own as a nation" and was registered July 14.
The uploaded footage contain regurgitations of official cant that honor the North's leader, Kim Jong-il, and the usual South Korea bashing. The Aug. 2 upload contained an elaborately produced three-minute clip lashing out at South Korea's foreign minister. Another clip, uploaded the same day and also produced in Korean, ridicules Seoul for its failure to stop the U.N. Security Council from placing Pyongyang's denial in its statement deploring the deadly March sinking of the Cheonan warship.
North Korea has been expanding the use of the Internet in its propaganda offensive, observers say. In June, a North Korean woman believed to be an agent uploaded a clip praising her communist country on YouTube, drawing media attention here and abroad.
North Korea is also believed to be operating a unit dedicated to hacking foreign Web sites, including those of the United States and South Korea. Early this year, South Korea set up a cyber defense command to deal with such threats from the North.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] orth Korea has criticized Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan for issuing an apology Tuesday only to South Korea over Japan"s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. ""We can only judge that Japan wants to keep the division of the peninsula,"" a North Korean official in charge of Japanese affairs said Tuesday evening. ""Besides, Japan has failed to settle the past with our country even 65 years after the end of World War II."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Talking to North Korea, Japan could sound a bit like Count Dracula, in the movie "Love at First Bite".
Alexei Rugalov: You dirty bat! You bit my mother!
Count Dracula: What is your name?
Rugalov: Alexei. Rugalov.
Count Dracula: No, Alexei. I bit your mother, and your grandmother.
Pictures at site
The Navy is set to field two new camouflage uniforms next year, just months after the last of the fleet will be issued the service's newest pixel-pattern, blue-and-grey "Navy Working Uniform."
Navy officials announced late last year they would provide a service-specific camouflage pattern to the ever-growing number of Sailors supporting operations in combat environments, recognizing the bright colors of their newest at-sea uniform were inappropriate for anything other than shipboard operations.
"In 2006, the [Chief of Naval Operations] saw the need to improve the tactical uniforms," said Lt. Cmdr. Chris Neish, a top gear buyer for the Naval Expeditionary Programs office. "The rationale was to provide a uniform to address the needs of the battlefield today."
Borrowing from work done by Naval Special Warfare Command on two camouflage patterns similar to the Marine Corps' desert and woodland digital patterns, the Navy began testing the so-called "Navy Working Uniform Type II and III" in late July.
The Type II uniform is a slightly darker version of the Corps' desert Marpat scheme and the Type III set-up is akin to the Corps' woodland digital. Both have the Navy's "Anchor, Constitution and Eagle" emblem embedded in the digital pattern.
According to Navy officials, only Naval Special Warfare operators and those supporting them will be allowed to wear the Type II duds, while all Sailors who are currently issued the old-school woodland uniforms will be allowed to wear the Type III cammies -- both deployed and at their home stations.
That means Sailors in the Seabees, riverine units and explosive ordnance disposal technicians will get the new Navy Type III uniforms for day-to-day wear. Naval Special Warfare operators will also be issued Type III camo duds for woodland and jungle environments.
Commandos issued the Type II desert scheme will not be allowed to wear their new uniforms on base in the U.S. unless they're in training, and any Sailors outside the special warfare or expeditionary community deployed to a desert locale will still wear the Desert Storm-era tri-color desert camo, the Navy says.
The entire program cost an estimated $80 million to develop, test and field the two camo uniforms, officials said.
#3
While some environment and jobs require specialized uniforms, a lot of this camo-hype is nothing moer that a jones keeping up with, inter service style, played also by the Navy Exchange in their never ending quest to keep their coffers full of sailor bucks. Why do you need a digital camo uniform while underway? its not like the boats will be cloaked and the bad guys not really wonder where all the sailors are when they have a CV in their sights. pull the trigger and an unmanned ship goes down? i think not..
#5
I've seen them up close...they are a nice dark blue - which makes perfect sense if a sailor goes overboard and a SAR situation is needed (sarc/off)
I agree w/the previous commentors, no need for these, some asshole in procurement was prolly hooking up some former O-6 buddy w/a contract and trying to get a MSM in the works for himself while doing so.
#6
Is simple. Dungarees under way, Marine digicamo ashore. Just saved $80 mil, and got a lot more serviceable uniforms for typical activities.
USMC, Army & Airforce could do the same thing. Go back to the Olive Drab in garrison, ACU/MarPat in the field. ODs a lot cheaper to make and buy, a lot more serviceable for garrison tasks, office work, etc.
Nothing looks more funny than a server room full of USAF computer techs sporting camo in a suburban Air Force Base.
A Guantanamo jury recommended a 14-year sentence Wednesday for an al Qaeda cook, though its decision may be overruled by a plea bargain that will limit the time he spends in prison.
Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi of Sudan pleaded guilty last month to supporting terrorism, making him only the fourth Guantanamo detainee to be convicted since the prison, which has held nearly 800 men, was opened in 2002.
The jury of 10 U.S. military officers was not told about the sentence limit in the plea agreement. If it is less than 14 years, the jury's sentence will only be applied if al-Qosi does something to break the deal, said Navy Capt. David Iglesias, a spokesman for military prosecutors.
Military officials say al-Qosi's actual sentence will not be revealed publicly until it is reviewed by a Pentagon official known as the tribunals' convening authority, a process that could take several weeks.
It is not yet clear where he might be held. Judge Nancy Paul, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, said Wednesday that officials would have 60 days after sentencing to determine that.
She told jurors they could sentence al-Qosi to between 12 and 15 years in prison — a range that is reportedly well above the terms of the plea bargain. She said the detainee would not receive credit for the eight years and seven months he already has spent in confinement.
Iglesias said the recommended sentencing range was determined in discussions between attorneys for al-Qosi and the convening authority, retired Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald, a former Navy judge advocate general with broad powers over the system for prosecuting terror suspects.
As part of the plea agreement, the 50-year-old detainee signed a statement declaring that he followed Osama bin Laden after the al Qaeda leader's expulsion from Sudan in 1996 and continued working for him in Afghanistan.
Al-Qosi said he learned after they occurred that al Qaeda was behind the U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998 and the 9/11 attack on the U.S., but he was not involved in their planning.
He was arrested in Pakistan after fleeing the al Qaeda hideout at Tora Bora, Afghanistan, during the U.S.-led invasion. He was among the first prisoners taken to Guantanamo.
The only witness for the prosecution at Wednesday's sentencing hearing, al Qaeda expert Robert McFadden, testified that only the most loyal followers of bin Laden would be allowed close enough to become a cook or driver.
"Trust is the major factor," said McFadden, an agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
In a closing prosecution statement to jurors, Marine Capt. Seamus Quinn said it is the support of people like al-Qosi that make al Qaeda possible.
"It would be an insult to Mr. al-Qosi and to our intelligence to think he was nothing more than running bin Laden's kitchen," said Quinn, who urged the panel to impose a 15-year sentence.
Defense attorneys presented videotapes of interviews with al-Qosi's relatives. The man's father, Ahmed al-Qosi, said his son socialized with Christians as a youth at an Italian school and said that "our spirits would be much happier" if he is returned to Sudan.
A defense lawyer, Army Maj. Todd Pierce, said that upon repatriation al-Qosi would enter a rehabilitation program run by Sudan's intelligence service that assigns extremists to moderate mosques and employs informants to track their behavior. He said the program is 85 percent effective and none of the nine men sent back to Sudan from Guantanamo have engaged in hostilities against the United States.
Al-Qosi's lawyers said he was little more than a menial worker to al Qaeda's senior leadership.
"Do you think they pulled off these horrible attacks by blabbing about it to their cooks?" defense attorney Paul Reichler said.
Al-Qosi avoided a possible life sentence at trial by pleading guilty July 7 to one count each of providing material support for terrorism and conspiracy.
The Arabic-language news channel al Arabiya, citing two unidentified sources, reported recently that the secret agreement calls for al-Qosi to serve an additional two years at most and return to Sudan afterward.
Prosecutors have pledged to let al-Qosi serve any sentence in a communal-living section of the Guantanamo prison reserved for the most cooperative detainees. That condition sparked an internal dispute because military policy calls for convicts to be held apart from other inmates.
For now there is only one convict at Guantanamo, al Qaeda media chief Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, who was sentenced in 2008 to life in prison.
Paul, the judge, said she was troubled that authorities had not developed written guidelines for the handling of convicted detainees even though another trial is under way for Omar Khadr, a young Canadian accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a grenade in Afghanistan in 2002. Opening arguments are expected in that case Thursday.
The military trials established by the Bush administration after the 9/11 attack also yielded convictions of bin Laden driver Salim Hamdan and Australian David Hicks. Both have already served their sentences and returned home.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2006 struck down one version of the military trials, known as commissions, before Congress and the Bush administration came up with new trial rules.
Obama revised them further to extend more legal protections to detainees, but human rights groups say the system is still unfair and prosecutions should be held in U.S. civilian courts instead.
#3
they try and make it sound like this guy didn't know what the hell was going on. Just a cook I bet he had a weapon though. As I remeber and this is not comparing our guys too theirs by any means at the Battle of the Bulge cooks and just about anyone else that couls hold a rifle fought the Germans off.
Posted by: chris ||
08/12/2010 19:28 Comments ||
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#4
Seems like most of the ones who have been released - because they were the least dangerous or guilty - have turned up back in the war, blowing stuff up. Can this guy be any less bad? Airlift him back to A'stan and drop him off at 35,000 feet.
#5
they try and make it sound like this guy didn't know what the hell was going on. Just a cook I bet he had a weapon though. As I remeber and this is not comparing our guys too theirs by any means at the Battle of the Bulge cooks and just about anyone else that couls hold a rifle fought the Germans off.
Even if he was wielding a weapon, he's just a grunt; according to the Geneva Conventions, you can't try the other side's grunts for being soldiers on the other side and making war on you.
If you _want_ to argue that the Geneva Conventions don't apply to the likes of him... well, there's a legal procedure for handling that, but you have to charge him with being an unlawful combatant first.
I find it strange and disquieting that an administration that has gone to such great lengths to accuse everyone else of cruelty is going ahead and sentencing someone to prison time for being a cook.
[Dawn] Separatist leaders in Indian-administered Kashmir dismissed Wednesday overtures from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about political autonomy in the region following months of anti-India unrest.
Appealing to Kashmiri Muslims to "give peace a chance", Singh had said Tuesday that his government would consider any consensus proposal for autonomy as long as it remained "within the ambit" of the constitution.
He also announced the creation of a panel of experts that would draw up a "jobs plan" for Indian-administered Kashmir where rampant unemployment -- especially among young people -- has fuelled resentment against Indian rule.
But senior Kashmir separatists rejected Singh's initiative.
"Our fight is for independence, not autonomy," Javed Mir, a former militant commander turned separatist politician, told AFP.
"We will continue our fight for our goal through peaceful protests," said Mir, who had been among the first Kashmiris to take up arms in 1989 when frustration against Indian rule boiled over into a full-blown insurgency.
Under the terms of its accession to India in 1947-- after independence from Britain and the sub-continent's division -- Kashmir was granted a relatively high degree of autonomy, excluding areas like defence and foreign affairs.
But those powers have been eroded over the years, and renewed promises of greater autonomy gain little traction in separatist circles.
"Our struggle is not for restoration of autonomy. It is to seek our right to self-determination," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, an influential moderate separatist, told AFP.
"We should be allowed to decide whether we want to remain with India, accede to Pakistan or carve out an independent state," he said.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which both claim the region in full and have fought two wars over their territorial dispute.
The Kashmir legislative assembly in 2000 passed a resolution favouring full restoration of the state's autonomy, but it was rejected by the then Hindu-nationalist government in New Delhi.
Autonomy is the main demand of the ruling National Conference, the state's biggest pro-India political party.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The UN aid envoy to flood-stricken Pakistan warned Wednesday that armed militants could take advantage of the country's worst humanitarian disaster by operating among its displaced victims.
"We all hope that militants will not take advantage of the circumstances to score points" by exploiting people driven from their homes by the floods, Jean-Maurice Ripert, the United Nations' aid envoy for Pakistan, told Le Monde.
"The people's misery can always be exploited by those who have political or militant aims," the newspaper quoted him as saying, describing the floods as "the worst natural disaster the country has known."
His comment came in response to a question about reports that some local aid groups working for the victims in Pakistan had links to extremists.
"For us, the essential thing is to help the Pakistani authorities to work together, set priorities and implement them," Ripert said. "That is the best response to make to those who want to use the catastrophe for other purposes."
Halfway through the violent monsoon season, rain continued to pound the country. Pakistan issued fresh flood warnings on Wednesday and called on foreign donors to step up and help contain the disaster.
The UN World Food Programme said it was trying to get help to up to six million survivors at a cost of 150 million dollars (115 million euros). Ripert put the total number of people affected at 15 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
"His comment came in response to a question about reports that some local aid groups working for the victims in Pakistan had links to extremists.
"'For us, the essential thing is to help the Pakistani authorities to work together, set priorities and implement them,' Ripert said."
Translation: I don't care if jihadists are the ones providing aid as long as they're working cooperatively with authorities.
Hell, just turn over the country to them now, fool.
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/12/2010 6:04 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for almost $460 million in emergency aid for Pakistan after floods devastated large areas of the country.
Launching the appeal at U.N. headquarters, humanitarian chief John Holmes said it would cover a 90-day period of immediate relief but would be revised within a month as the situation developed and more information came in.
According to U.N. figures, more than 14 million people have been affected by the floods, more than 1,200 have died and nearly 300,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Holmes said some 6 million people were in need of aid.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Ummmmm, no
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/12/2010 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
Phillippe! I sense a lucrative opportunity. My "humanitarian crisis™" speech please.
Have it right here, Mr. Wadd Holmes...
And get the five star file on Islamabad. I doubt these hillbillies have accomodations worthy of a UN aid worker. That could be as close as we can get.
As the U.S. military continues to draw down its forces in Iraq later this month and complete a full exit by the end of next year, analysts say the withdrawal will be a boon for the private security industry, whose employees will likely undertake more quasi-military functions such as defusing explosives and providing armed response teams. “They [private security contractors] are going to have to do everything that we expect soldiers to do without going out on patrols to engage the enemy,” says one former industry insider. “There are some pretty smart number crunchers in all the major contractors who are figuring out how much of this increasing pie we’re going to be able to get.”
What exactly that pie will consist of remains to be seen. During the first four years of the war—the most recent available estimate—the U.S. spent as much as $10 billion on private security contractors, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Yet this occurred at a time when the military employed far fewer than the roughly 11,000 private security contractors that it employs today. Just how many will remain in Iraq when the U.S. leaves will depend on the conditions on the ground. Yet analysts say the number of mercenaries will likely remain stable and could even increase slightly. And, as these contractors expand into new roles, “the price of them goes up,” says Stephanie Sanok, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
#3
I think that corporate mercenaries are the wave of the future, for low level operations, as opposed to extremely expensive standing armies, who will be much smaller, and reserved for serious wars and foreign policy muscle flexing.
This makes a lot more sense to older military personnel as well, because military pensions are also probably going to disappear, except for the most senior officers and NCOs. So they can "laterally transfer" to a mercenary corporation, and continue their career after 20 years in the standing army.
This also helps insure that the mercenaries don't become so mercenary that they turn on their own country. Much like why the French Foreign Legion have regular French Army officers.
Most of what such corporate mercenaries do will be like what they are doing in Iraq right now, plus low intensity, long term peacekeeping missions, to keep belligerents apart, and even humanitarian aid missions.
They might even be used for UCW against obnoxious revolutionary movements/criminal gangs like FARC in Colombia.
#4
A country that does not fight its own wars will lose sight of the cost of war and the realities of fighting it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/12/2010 11:58 Comments ||
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#5
49 Pan: Yes, but most of the activities of the military are not in war. And sending top notch combat forces, along with an intensive and extensive support mechanism, to keep poorly armed nitwits from offing each other with pointed sticks for 20 years is wasteful of resources.
#6
No arguement that contractors are important to the success of any US operation. We simply could not afford to maintain a force sized to go totally in uniform. Combat contractors, IE security/PSD, or outright operators is what I was leading to. The last thing we need is a mercenarie force working for DOD.
I did not understand your comment about nitwits. If your meaning what is going on in Afghanistan I cant agree with you more. Once ODA555 was finished and the other units were done leveling Afghanistan we should have exfilled and gone home. Staying and allowing conventional forces to try to control the land was a mistake and unnecessary. They were not a nation of laws, they were tribes that barely got along at best. If we would have pulled pitch and gone home, they would have still been nothing more that a group of tribes and we would have been better off for it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/12/2010 17:11 Comments ||
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#7
Once ODA555 was finished....
But General Dostum enjoyed playing Buzkashi with the team Pan. :-)
#8
one good thing about mercs is when they have too go into a war zone they pretty much already know the horrors of war and alot less like;ly will PSTD and you don't have as many kids getting killed not knowing what they where reaklly getting into.
Posted by: chris ||
08/12/2010 17:30 Comments ||
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H/T Weasel Zipper
Turkey and Iran are rumored to be helping Hizbullah obtain new weapons, Italian daily Corriere Della Sera reported on Wednesday evening.
Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan reportedly met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Taeb to discuss relations between the two countries.
Sources told Corriere Della Sera that Turkey will "send sophisticated weapons, rockets and guns to Syria, that will end up in Lebanon," where the Iranian Army will ensure the weapons are transferred to Hizbullah.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards "will facilitate the transition, ensure safety, watch loads on the routes, and provide support to the border," the report said. The Iranians reportedly want to build a weapons network similar to that in the Sudan, and hope to help Hamas, as well.
The Italian newspaper reported that Western intelligence sources "view the Turkish-Iranian plot with concern, as they are obvious risks to safety."
"The [intelligence] services in Ankara are among the best in the region," sources told Corriere Della Sera. "They have great knowledge of the Middle East, and know how to move on the routes of illegal trafficking."
#3
The Turkish Govt has chosen the dark side.I thourght the seular army would have something to say about this?.Kick them out of Nato and dont let them join the EU.
Posted by: Paul D ||
08/12/2010 15:33 Comments ||
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#4
Maybe it's time for Israel to start arming and training the PKK.
#5
The answer lies in that the Intelligence agency, that used to be almost half military, has had its military members systematically purged until they are less than 5% of the total. So it is entirely responsive to the government, and not the military.
N.B.: Hakan Fidan is an alumni of University of Maryland University College (UMUC)
#6
Unfortunately Turkey's location is just too valuable and they are too good at using it. Look at how they played the great powers in the 20th century. They've had a lot of practice and Obumble is a pre-virgin.
There is plenty of quiet progress around the area for the IDF to take advantage of.
Iran is just one good push away from a big change, and Syria may be in similar shape. Turkey seems to have given up on the EU, which may not be unwise, but they may be making a huge mistake with Iran.
This will likely get Joe started, but it's very interesting how little coverage there is of, in no particular order, Ethiopia, Armenia, Indian involvement in Afghan affairs, Kurdish development efforts.
Last - intriguing that the Italian media is on the trail of this story.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israeli armed forces chief Gabi Ashkenazi on Wednesday defended his troops' use of lethal fire when they stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May, killing nine pro-Palestinian activists.
Giving sworn testimony to a five-member Israeli commission of inquiry, Ashkenazi said the naval commandos who rappelled onto the deck of the ship only opened fire after a soldier was shot by one of the activists.
"Today it is clear to us that as soon as the first soldier had descended to the ship, a second soldier was shot," he told the panel in a public session of the hearing. "The soldiers opened fire only where necessary."
He said that the wounded man returned fire at his attacker, despite having been hit in the stomach.
"He simply pulled out his gun and shot the shooter," Ashkenazi said.
He rejected Turkish charges that some of the dead had been shot "execution-style" at point-blank range, saying that shots had been fired at close range as part of a life or death struggle.
"There was an instance when a soldier was being attacked with an axe," he said. "Somebody with an axe...that is life-threatening."
No guns were found aboard the ship but the military has previously said that activists seized at least one firearm from the soldiers during the clashes.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The United States said it has been consulting with the diplomatic Quartet for the Middle East about how to support a return to direct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, as U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell is expected to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley also did not rule out the possibility that the group composed of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations could issue a statement on Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken in recent days with U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as well as Tony Blair, the special quartet representative, Crowley told reporters on Tuesday.
"So we are consulting with the quartet and looking to see how we can encourage the parties to begin direct negotiations," Crowley said as Mitchell held talks in the Palestinian West Bank on Tuesday.
"If a quartet statement can be helpful in encouraging the parties to move forward, obviously, I think that's something that we the United States support," Crowley said.
Mitchell met Tuesday in the West Bank town of Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in what was a "serious and positive" meeting, Crowley said.
Mitchell, who arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday, would now meet with Netanyahu on Wednesday, he added. Crowley did not say why the meeting had been delayed a day.
In Ramallah, Palestinian officials on Tuesday said they had made progress towards the launch of direct talks with Israel during the latest visit by Mitchell.
However, they adhered to the same demands that have held up talks for months, namely a complete freeze of Israeli settlement activity and set guidelines regarding the negotiation of final borders.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Quartet
What kind of Quartet is it?
All male group (1st Tenor, 2nd Tenor (Lead), Baritone, and Bass)? or
mixed quartets singing barbershop music? (Tenor, Lead, Baritone, Bass )
Despite its initial 'nay' vote to the anti-Iran UN Security Council resolution and efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Tehran's nuclear Issue, Brazil has signed the decree.
"President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the decree because there is a tradition of carrying out (UN) Security Council resolutions, including those we don't agree with," the country's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Tuesday, AFP reported.
On May 17, Iran issued a declaration with Brazil and Turkey based on which it agreed to exchange the bulk of its low-enriched uranium on Turkish soil with fuel for Tehran research reactor.
The US and its European allies snubbed the declaration and used their influence on the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran.
Both Ankara and Brasilia condemned the new sanctions, saying it was a major setback in resolving the West's standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
Following the UNSC resolution, the US and EU also imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, targeting the country's energy and financial sectors.
Iran has criticized the UNSC sanctions arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Borodavkin has reiterated Moscow's opposition to US and EU unilateral sanctions against Iran over its peaceful nuclear program.
In a meeting with Iranian ambassador in Moscow, Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi, on Tuesday, Borodavkin voiced his country's opposition against such policies.
In his turn, Sajjadi appreciated Moscow' stance on unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and EU and hailed Russia for positive policies on Tehran's nuclear program.
Borodavkin also underlined the importance of commissioning the Bushehr nuclear power plant, saying Russia's nuclear chief will attend the launching ceremony at the end of August.
Iran's first nuclear power plant will come on stream in the southern city of Bushehr by September.
Head of Russia's State Nuclear Energy Corporation (Rosatom), Sergei Kiriyenko, had earlier announced that the construction of the plant will not be affected by sanctions against Iran.
Moscow has repeatedly opposed to unilateral sanctions against Iran. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has recently declared that Russia will not accept the approach taken by the US and regards it contrary to decisions made by the UN Security Council and Group 5+1.
On May, Brazil and Turkey brokered a deal in Tehran where Iran agreed to send 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for fuel for the medical research reactor in Tehran.
The US and its European allies snubbed the declaration and used their influence in the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran which was followed by a series of more sanctions from the US and the EU, targeting Iran's energy and banking sectors.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Iran welcomes reconciliatory talks between Beirut and Damascus, saying it backs promotion of solidarity among Muslim and Arab nations against the Israeli violations.
In a televised interview with Iran's state TV on Tuesday, senior foreign policy advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Akbar Velayati, hailed the recent meetings between Syrian and Lebanese officials with the participation of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, terming the move unprecedented in recent years.
King Abdullah paid a historic visit to Lebanon late July, the first Saudi monarch to visit the country since 1957. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accompanied the Saudi king on the visit. Al-Assad's visit to Lebanon was his first trip to the country since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.
Prior to his trip to Lebanon, King Abdullah had met with al-Assad in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
The Saudi king's trip to Syria and Lebanon is said to be part of his attempt to patch up the differences or tension between the two Muslims states after the United Nations published a report of its findings about Hariri's assassination.
Damascus-Beirut ties were severed following the assassination in a car bomb explosion in 2005 in Beirut. Western-backed factions in Lebanon blamed the killing on Syria and Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops from the country after a 29-year presence. Syria has vehemently denied involvement in the killing.
"The Untied States and the Zionist regime may conduct some illogical actions in the Middle East, but they will receive a much stronger response than what they got in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan," Velayati said.
Touching on Israel's defeat in its 33-day war on Lebanon in 2006, Velayati envisioned more defeats for Israel, saying "the Zionists' new military offensive against Lebanon will bring about a much heavier defeat for the regime."
Israel staged a military attack against Lebanon in the summer of 2006, which claimed the lives of about 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians.
Earlier this week, Velayati made a trip to Lebanon to meet with the country's President Michel Sleiman and Hezbollah's Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
On Saturday, the senior Iranian politician also made a three-day visit to Syria and met with al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Iran says the United States is not strong enough to put its threats into practice as Iranian armed forces are fully ready to counter any military actions against the country.
"They [Americans] know that they can't intimidate the Iranian nation with military options to meet their illegal demands," Mehr News Agency quoted Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari as saying on Tuesday.
The Iranian commander reiterated that the US has poured its military forces into the region under the pretext of fighting terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying the US is fully aware of Iran's military and spiritual strength and lacks the power to put its threats into action.
Jafari's comments came in the wake of the remarks of the American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who envisioned a military strike against Iran to deter the Islamic Republic from acquiring "nuclear weapons."
"That's why we are witnessing an increase in the soft war, because they are not able to stage a military attack on Iran," Jafari added.
Iranian military officials have downplayed foreign threats against the nation, saying a US or Israeli strike against Iran will receive a crushing response.
Washington says that military action against Tehran remains an option, if Iran does not relinquish its nuclear activities.
Iran argues that all its nuclear activities are under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Organization and as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran reserves the right to enjoy peaceful nuclear technology.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Keep tellin' yourself that, kid. See how far it gets ya.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Russian oil giant LUKOIL has resumed gasoline sales into Iran in partnership with China's state-run firm Zhuhai Zhenrong, even as the United States urges the international community to be tough with Tehran.
Iran is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter but lacks adequate refining capacity to meet domestic demand for motor fuel, forcing it to import up to 40 percent of its requirements.
Russia and China, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, signed up to the latest round of U.N. sanctions on Iran, but refused to support measures that targeted the Islamic Republic's oil and gas sector.
The U.S. has since passed additional unilateral sanctions allowing it to penalize fuel suppliers to Iran, measures criticized by both Beijing and Moscow.
Moscow is struggling to balance trade ties with Tehran and warmer relations with the United States, which is eager for Kremlin support to rein in Iranian nuclear activities Washington says it believes are aimed at developing a nuclear bomb.
In July, Russia's energy minister Sergei Shmatko said Russian companies would be ready to supply fuel to Iran if there were commercial interest and attractive terms.
LUKOIL has the largest U.S. presence among Russian firms. In April, it joined a growing list of companies that halted shipments as sanctions loomed.
Then sources familiar with the company said traders involved in gasoline trading with Iran at the Russian energy giant had received verbal direction from senior management to halt business activity.
But LUKOIL's trading arm, Litasco, and Zhenrong discharged a 250,000-barrel gasoline cargo at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas last week, industry sources said.
Geneva-based Litasco was expected to ship a second cargo of the motor fuel to Bandar Abbas later this week, traders said.
A LUKOIL spokesman said "one-off deliveries (to Iran after it decided to stop the shipments in spring) took place within the frame of previously signed contracts."
The spokesman declined to give more details. It was unclear if either of these shipments to Bandar Abbas formed part of the previously signed contracts.
Chinese companies have delivered about half of Iran's gasoline imports in recent months. State-run Zhenrong is the single largest lifter of Iranian crude oil.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Ee should have a high level meeting with the Russians and explain to them that is would be a shame if the 'stan & Chechen rebels suddenly got powerful hi-tech weapons capable of downing helicopters and planes like what happened to them in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
08/12/2010 16:28 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Lebanon criticized on Wednesday moves by U.S. lawmakers to block aid for the military over concerns it was working closely with militant Shiite Hezbollah, after a deadly cross-border clash between Lebanon and Israel.
Defense Minister Elias al-Murr told reporters any party that wished to help the military had to do so without conditions.
"That person who said in Congress, 'I will stop aid to the army', he is free to do so ... Anyone who wants to help the army without restrictions or conditions, is welcome," Murr said.
"This person wants to make military aid conditional on not protecting (Lebanon's) land, people and borders against Israeli aggression. Let them keep their money or give it to Israel. We will confront (Israel) with the capabilities we own."
Israel complained to the United States and France about funds to the Lebanese army after a skirmish killed a senior Israeli officer, two Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist in the worst border violence since a 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman launched an initiative to build up the underequipped army, prompting Iran, which supports Lebanon's militant Shiite group Hezbollah, to offer support.
The U.S. State Department said the statement by Iran, which is likely to alarm Western countries who fear Tehran is increasing its influence near Israel's northern border, demonstrated the need for continued U.S. support to Lebanon.
The United States has provided more than $720 million in assistance to the army since 2006 to Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A U.N. tribunal probing the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri on Wednesday called for the submission of all "relevant evidence," days after Hezbollah unveiled data allegedly implicating Israel.
"The office of the prosecutor has always invited and continues to invite anyone who has evidence relevant to the attack against former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri to bring it to its attention," tribunal spokeswoman Fatima Issawi told AFP.
The tribunal prosecutor "has also said that any allegation that is based on credible elements... will be carefully considered," she added.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Monday unveiled "evidence" that his arch-foe Israel was behind the Feb. 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut.
Nasrallah produced several undated clips of aerial views of various areas in Lebanon, including the site of the Hariri assassination in mainly Sunni west Beirut several years prior to the murder.
He said the footage was intercepted from unmanned Israeli MK surveillance drones.
Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah is facing increasing pressure as the U.N.-backed tribunal appears set to accuse several of its members.
Nasrallah has said Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of Rafiq, vowed he would publicly declare any Hezbollah members indicted were renegades and not disciplined party members.
Hariri's stance is widely viewed as an attempt to avoid violence between his mainly Sunni Muslim supporters and supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah at all costs.
Tribunal president Antonio Cassese has said there is no fixed date for any indictments, which "will depend on when the prosecutor determines there is enough evidence."
The Hariri assassination triggered an international outcry and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005 after a deployment of almost three decades.
The murder has been widely blamed on Syria but Damascus has consistently denied involvement.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Damascus has consistently denied involvement.
Yeah, and nobody with a functioning brain believes 'em.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Israel and its main supporter, the US, are speeding toward their decline, while Islamic countries such as Iran and Turkey are rising, says a senior Iranian cleric.
In a Wednesday meeting with Turkish Ambassador to Tehran Umit Yardim, secretary of the Guardian Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati urged Muslim countries "to unite, set aside their differences, use their vast potentials and not fear threats made by the US and its allies."
"After suffering successive defeats over the past years from Lebanon's Hezbollah and Hamas, the Zionist regime (Israel) is seeking to take revenge on the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine," Fars News Agency quoted Ayatollah Jannati as saying.
Ayatollah Jannati said the recent border clashes between Israeli and Lebanese soldiers were a move on the part of Tel Aviv to assess their readiness for a confrontation.
"Despite such efforts, Hezbollah, the Lebanese government and people are united [when it comes to] resisting any assault by Israel."
Yardim for his part said Turkey considers Iran a key player in the region and the world, and is interested in expanding ties in all sectors.
"Cooperation between Iran and Turkey is essential to establishing peace, stability, welfare and security in the region and throughout the world," the Turkish envoy was quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] For years, the U.S. has pumped money into Lebanon's military, hoping a strengthened army would sideline Iranian-backed Hezbollah's powerful militia.
The unexpected decision by a U.S. Congressman to suspend that aid over concerns the weapons could be turned on Israel again raises one of Lebanon's most vexing questions: Who is really in charge of the Arab nation?
Hezbollah is undoubtedly the country's most powerful military force, with an arsenal that far outweighs that of the Western-backed national army.
Lebanon's government is an uneasy coalition of a Western-backed bloc, headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and Hezbollah, which in just a few years has gained so much political power it now has a virtual veto over government decisions. Hariri's bloc wants the Islamic militant group to disarm, but does not have the power to force its will.
The power balance has long worried the U.S. and its close ally Israel, which is Hezbollah's sworn enemy.
"We continue to believe that supporting the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army or military is in our national interest," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday. "It contributes to stability in the region."
On Monday, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said he suspended U.S. military aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces on Aug. 2 amid growing concern in Congress that American-supplied weapons could threaten Israel and that Hezbollah may have influence over the army.
Rep. Howard Berman, a Democrat from California and a strong supporter of Israel, said those concerns were reinforced a day later when the armies of Lebanon and Israel fought along their border, killing two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and a senior Israeli officer.
"We will address the concerns that congressional leaders have rightfully raised about what happened recent and what it's potential implications are," Crowley said. "But nonetheless we continue to support our assistance programs to Lebanon."
Hezbollah did not take part in the most recent fighting, and the confrontation showed a rare willingness by the Lebanese military to assert itself in a region long considered Hezbollah territory.
The Lebanese army drew praise in the country for standing up to Israel's powerful military -- a role the army has more or less deferred to Hezbollah in the past. But politicians in Israel and the United States charge that Hezbollah might have infiltrated the army or are trying to influence it.
It is a paradox that Lebanese military aid presents to the U.S. administration, which wants to a see a stronger army to counter Hezbollah's formidable arsenal but now faces the possibility that the army may end up trading fire with Israeli soldiers.
"In essence, the U.S. administration and U.S. military aid to Lebanon are caught between an Israeli rock and a Hezbollah hard place," said Aram Nerguizian, a resident scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Nerguizian said that while the clash seems to be an isolated incident, it shows the army wants to play an increasingly meaningful role in safeguarding Lebanese sovereignty.
On the same day Congress announced its suspension in aid, the U.S. State Department spokesman defended U.S. assistance to Lebanon and said it contributes to "regional stability as a whole," suggesting that the White House does not share fears that aid to the Lebanese army will be turned against Israel.
Crowley said he was not aware of plans to reevaluate U.S. military cooperation with Lebanon. It was not clear how long the suspension would last; Berman used his legislative prerogative to place a temporary hold.
The Aug. 3 clash -- the most serious fighting since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war -- began after an Israeli soldier tried to remove a tree along the border, something the military has done in the past to improve its sightlines into Lebanon.
But both sides claimed the tree was in their territory, and Lebanon said it opened fire after Israel refused entreaties to stop. The United Nations later determined the tree was on the Israeli side.
Lebanon described the U.S. suspension of aid as "regrettable and unwarranted."
"The last thing that the U.S. or any other friend of Lebanon should do is to weaken the effort to build up our national army," Mohamed Chatah, an adviser to Prime Minister Hariri, told The Associated Press.
Some analysts believe cutting U.S. aid could actually empower Hezbollah.
"It would facilitate Hezbollah reasserting itself along the line of demarcation with Israel," Nerguizian said.
For years, Lebanon's 60,000-strong military was dismissed as little more than an internal security force. It has stayed out of the frequent battles between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, including the 2006 war when Israeli airplanes pounded army positions while the military largely stayed on the sidelines.
Following the war, the army deployed in southern Lebanon -- Hezbollah's heartland -- for the first time in decades, with the help of U.N. peacekeepers. Since then, the U.S. has stepped up its military assistance to the Lebanese army.
The United States has since 2006 provided over $720 million in military aid, including assault rifles, Humvee vehicles, missile and grenade launchers and night vision goggles, in addition to training.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said his country always has had concerns that the army's weapons could find themselves in the hands of Hezbollah.
"But in front of our eyes something even more disturbing is happening, it's being used directly by the Lebanese army against us," he alleged.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
the confrontation showed a rare willingness by the Lebanese military to assert itself in a region long considered Hezbollah territory.
#2
Nerguizian said that while the clash seems to be an isolated incident, it shows the army wants to play an increasingly meaningful role in safeguarding Lebanese sovereignty.
perhaps they could start by enforcing that sovereignty at home, over Iran and Syria's puppet. Whoa, who am I kidding. This will only end with the destruction of from Beirut south and Damascus a smoldering ruin
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/12/2010 11:23 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has apparently registered an account with the iconic U.S. video-sharing site YouTube, uploading clips that praise the isolated regime and defend itself against accusations that it attacked a South Korean warship.
